Abstract

Introduction: smoking cessation programs provide specialized intensive treatments encompassing both behavioural and pharmacologic therapies. Patients who join these programs have higher quit rates.

Objectives: to perform a descriptive analysis of patients who attended a smoking cessation program and to evaluate its success rate.

Methods: retrospective study conducted among patients who attended the smoking cessation program of a central hospital between 2008-2016. Medical records were reviewed to collect data on demographic characteristics, smoking pack-years, nicotine dependence, motivation to quit, mood disorders (assessed by Fagerstrom Test, Richmond Test and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, respectively) and success in quit smoking. Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted to evaluate the sample.

Results: total sample of 882 patients (50.3%males; mean age 50.2y), mainly referred from Pulmonology and Primary Care outpatient settings (20.3% and 17.4% respectively); 15.4% were self-referred. Mean smoking-pack years was 45.4. 85.0% of patients had moderate or high nicotine dependence, but only 8.2% were highly motivated to quit. Patients had higher levels of anxiety than depression (mean anxiety score 9.3 vs mean depression score 6.3). 62.0% of patients attended <3sessions and dropped out the program. The overall success rate was 28.3%, rising to 56.1% in patients who attended ≥3sessions.

Conclusions: the majority of patients with adherence to the program succeeded in quitting smoking, suggesting its effectiveness. The high number of patients who dropped out the program or weren’t motivated to quit is probably associated with inadequate referral from other healthcare professionals.